- Turkish-American online streamer and political commentator Hasan Piker has defended the murder of babies by Hamas
- Piker, 32, appeared on an October 12 episode of The H3 Podcast and stated that ‘baby colonists’ were legitimate targets
- “Palestinians have the legal basis to forcibly take back their own homes from these settlers,” he said
One of the most watched commentators on the streaming channel Twitch has defended the murder of babies by Hamas.
Hasan Piker, 32, appeared as a guest on The H3 Podcast on October 12 and was asked by the host, Israeli-American Ethan Klein, about the situation between Israel and Hamas.
Piker, born in New Jersey to Turkish parents and raised in Istanbul, told Klein he thought the Oct. 7 terrorist attack was justified.
“This is going to sound very radical and possibly very violent, but this is a matter of law and perhaps, if you agree, a matter of morality: Palestinians have the legal basis to forcibly take back their own homes from these settlers,” he said.
“This is a reality, and it is precisely why they have to exist under endless occupation in the West Bank.”
Hasan Piker, a left-wing online commentator, said in a podcast on October 12 that he believed the Palestinians were justified in wanting to “take back their own homes by force from these settlers.”
Hamas militants kidnapped 230 hostages from kibbutz communities, a music festival, towns and military bases in southern Israel during the October 7 attack.
An aerial photo shows the bodies of victims of the Hamas attack on the Kfar Aza kibbutz
Hamas has left a trail of destruction at a series of kibbutzim near the Gaza border, including children’s beds soaked in blood
Klein told Piker, “If they were settlers, that would make a lot more sense.”
Piker responded, “There are also baby settlers, there are also baby settlers. There are babies in the settlements.”
Klein said, “But the babies that were killed weren’t.”
Piker replied, “I know.”
He then declared himself “a one-stater,” and defended YouTuber JT Chapman, who tweeted his own defense of Hamas’ attacks.
Piker’s own Twitch channel has 2.6 million followers, who watch him play video games and muse about politics every day.
Piker studied politics and communications at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
An Israeli soldier breaks down in tears at the sight of a family dining table still covered in Challah bread from Friday’s Kiddush at Kibbutz Kfar Aza. Hamas terrorists massacred families here on October 7
A house completely destroyed after being burned by Hamas terrorists during the attack on Kibbutz Be’eri, near the Gaza border
Piker’s uncle, Cenk Uygur, co-founded the political chat show The Young Turks on YouTube, and Piker was one of the progressive show’s hosts until he left in 2020 to focus on Twitch.
He has raised more than $1 million for Palestinian charities through a fundraiser on Twitch.
Israel declared war in the wake of Hamas’ bloody invasion, which included brutal aerial bombardments on the densely populated Gaza Strip, home to some 2.3 million people.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza says more than 8,000 people have been killed in Israeli air and ground strikes since Israel declared war just over three weeks ago.